Every emotion will have been experienced by the contingent of Army players who had outings in the English professional game this past weekend, with fightbacks and near misses in both the men’s and women’s leagues.
Cpl Louise Dodd (QARANC) and Gnr Senitiki Nayalo (7 Para RHA) were both involved in the former, while LCpl Semesa Rokoduguni (Scots DG) came within 60 seconds of a similar result himself.
Cpl Dodd’s Wasps team hosted Worcester at Twyford Avenue on Saturday afternoon, and with a 14-5 lead on the half-hour looked set to go on and secure a victory. They did just that, but suffered a massive scare as Worcester not only scored two tries in quick succession before half-time but then went on to extend their lead to eight points with half-an-hour to play. But Wasps showed their semi-final pedigree in the last 30 minutes, scoring two unanswered tries and putting in a big shift on their own line to win 26-22.
There was a similar comeback at Butts Park Arena for Gnr Nayalo and his Coventry team-mates. Doncaster were the visitors, and the Knights racked up a 10-point lead in the opening 10 minutes. Coventry were reeling and disjointed, but as the half wore on they took increasing control to tie things up at the break. Doncaster did score another try, but when Coventry took a lead with a pair of quickfire tries before the hour mark it put them on the way to a 39-22 full-time score.
However there was no such fightback finish from LCpl Rokoduguni’s Bath team at the AJ Bell Stadium. Sale dominated the first half and led 17-3 at half-time, but for 39 of the 40 minutes in the second half momentum swung Bath’s way. A converted try and three penalties put the visitors in the lead with five minutes to go, but with seconds to play a crucial three-pointer went Sale’s way, the Sharks heading off the field with a 20-19 victory.
The other two matches of the weekend to include Army players were both in the Premier 15s, and unfortunately our players were both on the wrong end of the result.
At the Twickenham Stoop Bdr Bethan Dainton (RA) and her Harlequins team mates saw their perfect start to the season come to a shuddering halt against Exeter, who had been the last team to beat the Londoners back in the winter. End-to-end action in the opening 30 minutes yielded no points, with the teams exchanging tries before the break. However a Quins yellow card just before the hour mark handed the initiative to the Chiefs, who went on to score three tries in 15 minutes to head home 24-12 victors.
On the other side of London there was a similar outcome for Lt Sally Stott (RAVC) and Loughborough Lightning. Heading to Saracens is always tough, and so it proved as the 2020/21 beaten finalists grabbed an early control that they would not relinquish at any stage. Saracens scored four tries before the break, with Loughborough replying with one of their own. This would be the sole consolation in the afternoon for the visitors, with Saracens adding a further 10 points to win 38-7.
Words © New Dogs, Old Tricks, Header and Featured Image © Alligin Photography
